Printing suppression mechanism for teletypewriters



June 9, 1953 s. w. BEYLAND 2,641,644

PRINTING SUPPRESSION MECHANISM FOR TELETYPEWRITERS Filed April 9, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

INVENTOR S. M. BE VLAND June 9, 1953 s. w. BEYLAND PRINTING SUPPRESSION MECHANISM Fo R TELETYPEWRITERS Filed April 9, 1951 Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 wvsuron S. m BEYLAND ATTORNEY Patented June 9, 1953 PRINTING SUPPRESSION MECHANISM FOR TELETYPEWRITERS Sidney Warren Beyland, Bellerose, N. Y., as-

signor to American Telephone and Telegraph Company, a corporation of New York Application April 9, 1951, Serial No. 220,036

13 Claims. (Cl. 178 -23) This invention relates to teletypewriters and more particularly to mechanism for selectively suppressing printing on a page type teletypewriter.

In many business concerns wherein intercommunicating teletypewriter systems are used, it is often desirable to suppress certain items of information at certain teletypewriter stations and to furnish all information including these certain items at other teletypewriter stations. This applies particularly to mercantile concerns wherein it is desirable tosuppress cost data on invoices to be sent to purchasers and show such data on invoice copies sent to various departments of the concern which require this cost data for accounting and auditing purposes.

Various methods have been used for suppressing printing at teletypewriters when suppression is desired during the recording of a message either at a remote point or on local copy. One method is to assign certain permutation code signals for operating at certain teletypewriters pairs of contacts in their respective motor control circuits whereby each teletypewriter motor, in turn, is stopped in response to its incoming signal, but in such methods a stopped teletypewriter upon the resumption of printing thereat, would not be ready to record until the motor of such teletypewriter which has been restarted, comes up to its normal speed. Another method, somewhat pertinent to the present invention in that printing at a teletypewriter is suppressed without stopping the motor thereat, is disclosed in W. Y. Lang et al. Patent 2,106,805, granted February 1, 1938.

In the Lang et a1. Patent 2,106,805, the teletypewriter is provided with an extra bar notched somewhat like a code bar and having wards separating figures (shift), letters (unshift), upper case blank and upper case J, the upper case blank signal being assigned as hereinbefore stated to effect the suppression of printing and the upper case J being effective to restore the "extra notched bar to its normal position. "The restoration of the extranotched bar discontinues 1,904,164, granted April 18, 1933.

the suppression of printing. The Lang et al. method, in addition to suppressing printing, suppresses normal spacing also.

It is an object of the present invention to suppress printing, but not spacing and to maintain during the suppression, the operation of a teletypewriter motor whereby suppressionmay be had at certain teletypewriters of an intercommunicating system while the message orother information in its entirety is recorded at the remaining teletypewriters.

According to this invention, a page-type teletypewriter is adapted to suppress printing at a predetermined point or points in a line of copy, the suppression'being activated in response to a certain upper case character signal, and automatically deactivated in response to a carriage return signal or another upper case character signal to resume printing. The teletypewriter is provided with an extra notched bar, the sixth in a teletypewriter designed for the five-unit code, for

suppressing the printing. The extra notched bar when operated to its alternate position prevents all the type bar pull-bars from having access through their respective notch alignments to the pull-bar bail, and its operation is controlled by a special bell-crank in a manner similar to that of the code bars shown in S. Morton et a1. Patent The special bell-crank is equipped at one end with a yielding member pivotally attached to the extra notched bar, and at the other end with a roller in engageable relation with a camming bar. The camming bar in its upper position is conditioned to activate printing suppression and in its lower position it is in its deactivated condition whereby printing is not suppressed. In its lower position the camming bar must be brought into its upper position before printing suppression can be had, and in response to the certain upper case character signal a function lever corresponding thereto causes the cam bar to move upwardly into engagement with the roller at the time or shortly before suppression of printing is to begin. Detachably mounted along the camming bar are a plurality of camming lugs equal in length to one or more character spaces in a line of typing so that by juxtaposing a plurality of these lugs, print suppression for any number of characters in the line typing range of the movable type-basket carriage may be had. The roller should reach the first camming lug at the instant the printing suppression is to begin and the roller should ride upon the top of these lugs for the duration of sponsive to the carriage return signal.

vated at will. I t at will, two different upper case character signals will operate, but since the extra notched bar is locked in its normal position at the time,- the yielding member will rotate around it pivot :on the special bell-crank and remain in rotaterljposition until the operated pull-bar is released.

When the operated pull-bar releases, a coil'spring now under tensile stress and fixed at one end to the yielding memberand at the other end to the adjacent arm of the special bell-crank, will injfiuence the yielding member back to its normal position with respect to the operated special bellcrank, and therefore, the extra notched bar will be moved into its alternate position by the yielding member returning to its normal position on the special bell-crank. Printing is suppressed while the extra notched bar remains in its alternate position. The roller, upon riding off the camming lugs, automatically restores the special bell-crank to its normal position to permit the resumption of printing. The camming bar may be operatedto its lower position, whenever desired, by means of a function lever responsive to some other upper case character signal or, at the end of the line of typing, by the function lever re- The camming bar when so lowered is held in position by a latching member which automatically moves in latching engagement therewith in response to the operation of the function lever which, as hereinvbefore stated, may be responsive to the certain upper case character signal or the carriage return signal.

Three operating conditions may be securedby the proper selection of function levers.

(1) Printing suppression is normally activated and is to be deactivated selectively for one line only. Transmit the certain upper case character signal to operate the corresponding function lever which, upon operating, permits the camming'bar to move downward to its lower, or deactivated position. The camming .bar remains in its deac- 'tivated position until the carriage return signal is transmitted at the end of the line of typing to operate the carriage return function lever which,

upon operating, restores the camming bar 'to its activated, or upper, position. This restoration is automatic.

('2) Printing suppression is normally deactiivated and is to be activated selectively for one line only. Transmit a certain upper case character signal to operate the corresponding function lever which, upon operating, permits the camming bar to move upwardly to its activated position.

The camming bar is in its activated position until 7 the carriage return signal is transmitted at the end of the line of typing to operate the carriage return function lever which, upon operating, restores the camming bar to its deactivated position. To accomplish this condition, it is necessary to reverse the position of the function levers described in condition No. l above.

(3) Printing suppression activated and deacti- 'In order to activate and deactivate tion. The camming bar remains in its activated position until the second upper case character signal is transmitted to suspend printing suppression by operating its corresponding function lever which,upon operating, restores the camming bar to its deactivated position. There is no automatic restoration as :is had in conditions (1) and (2) above.

Other objects which will be disclosed as the description hereof proceeds and which will be emphaslzed'as they appear, will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

The preferred embodiment of my invention herein disclosed is illustrated in the following drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the herein disclosed apparatus of a page-type teletypewriter;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front view of theteletypewriter showing the extra notched bar, special bell-crank and camming bar in their normally activated condition during an interval of printing suppression;

Fig. 2A is a fragmentry View of Fig. 2 wherein the extra notched bar and the upper part of the special bell-crank are shown to represent the extra notched bar locked'in its normal position by a fully operated pull-bar at the time the bellcrank is operated to start printing suppression;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front view of the teletypewriter showing the extra notched bar, special bell-crank and camming bar in their deactivated condition when no printing is being suppressed;

Fig. 4 shows a view of a pull-bar in both its normal and its operated positions with respect to the five selector code bars and the extra notched bar, the pull-bar bail being shown in operational engagement with the pull-bar in its operated position;

' Fig. 5 shows the roller on one end of the special bell-crank in engagement with the lugs detachably mounted on the camming bar, the arrangement shown representing the special bell-crank in its operated position; and

Fig. 6 shows in detail, the mounting of a cam- :ming lug on the camming bar.

In general, Fig. 1 shows the teletypewriter base unit I i, printing unit I2, type-basket carriage unit Akeyboardtransmitter unit, not shown, is fully described in H. L. Krum Patent No. 1,595,472, issued August 10, 1926, and is removably attachable to the herein described apparatus.

The apparatus herein disclosed is operated by various code combinations of impulse conditions and is mechanically and selectively controlled thereby. These impulse conditions are translated into mechanical operations and functions by means of a selector mechanism operating through a single selector magnet as described in S. Morton et al. Patent No. 1,904,164.

Referring to Fig. 1, the mechanism for suppressing printing is shown to include an extra notched bar It mounted in front of the five regular code bars, (shown in Fig. 4), a special bellcrank lever I! adapted to move the notched bar 16 from its non-suppressing condition to its suppressing condition, camming bar [8 for controlling the operation of bell-crank lever ll into its suppressing and non-suppressing positions, and a latching member 19, for holding the camming bar in either its activated or deactivated position.

Bell-crank lever i1 is pivotally connected to bell-crank plate'2ii which is appropriately located relative to and secured to type-basket carriage unit [3 in the same manner as the regular bellcrank levers 44 to 48, inclusive, shown in S. Morton et al. Patent 1,904,164, supra. Pivoted to the upper end of bell-crank lever l1 and normally held in alignment therewith by means of spiral spring 2|, is a yielding extension 22. The free end of yielding extension 22 is pivotally connected to extra notched bar I6, so that in response to the operation of bell-crank lever I! about its pivotal point, it is capable of mov ing bar l6 into its alternate or printing supa pressing position except when the bar 5 is locked in its normal, or non-suppressing, position, by an operated type'bar pull-bar as will be hereinafter described. Rlotatably supported on the lower end of bell-crank lever IT is roller 23 arranged to ride along camming bar [8 when the camming bar is in activated, or upper, position. Bell-crank lever I! is held in its normal position by means of coil spring '24, the immovable end of which is fixed to plate 20.

Detachably mounted on cammin bar [8 is an assembly of cam lugs, but sufiiciently secured thereto as to have no motion with respect to the camming bar, in the direction of travel of the type-basket carriage. Each cam lug has a width equal to one or more character spacing number of cam lugs on the camming bar in the desired location or locations.

Camming bar I8 is movably mounted on the teletypewriter framework and is normally held in its upper position by means of spiral springs 26 connected at one end to the teletypewriter framework and at the other end to a projecting ear formed integrally with the camming bar. The camming bar has at each end a slot 21 arranged to limit the downward movement of the bar. A machine screw 28 fits into each slot, guides the camming bar in its downward and upward motion and holds the camming bar in position on the teletypewriter framework.

Latching member 19 is pivotally mounted on the teletypewriter framework, When camming bar !8 is in its lower position, it is latched in such .position by spiral spring 29 which causes the upper end of latching member iii to exert a holding pressure on tang 30 of leg 3|, the tang and leg being integrally formed on the camming bar. A left-hand extension 45 on the lower end of leg 3! is in engageable relation with the front extension 32 of a function lever operable in re-,

sponse to a definite permutation code signal assigned to operate such function lever. Latching member l9 has an arm on its lower end in engageable relation with the front extension 33 of a function lever which is operable in response to another definite permutation code signal assigned to operate the latter function lever.

Should it be desired to suppress the printing at one or more sections of a line of typing, the lugs 25 representing the total length of the section or sections to be suppressed, are attached to the camming bar [8' as shown in Fig. 5, the first and last lugs of each section having a sloping cam- Cal ming surface on their outside edges so that roller '23 may readily ascend and descend in stepping along, camming bar I8 in response to the stepping movement of the type-basket carriage.

Code bars 34, 35, 36, 31 and 38, shown in Fig. 4, and similar to those described in S. Morton et al. Patent No. 1,904,164, supra, are adapted to be set in different combinations in accordance with different code signals and are so notched on their inner arcuate edges that in any setting, or alignment of notches, one of the pull-bars, say pull bar 39 as shown in Fig. 5, can fall into the alignment of notches thereof under the influence of its spring, not shown, to assume a position indicated by pull-bar 39'. The falling or dropping of pull-bar v3!! into the alignment of notches moves hook 453 into the path of pull-bar bail M which when operated as described in S. Morton et al. Patent No. 1,904,164, will engage the hook 40 and urge pull-bar iiiloutwardly against the action of its spring, not shown, thereby causing the selected type bar to rotate to thereby print the desired character on a sheet of paper interposed between an inkling ribbon 42 and platen [4; The extra notched bar hereinbefore referred to and designated in Fig. 1 as It, is'disposed in front of the regular code bars 34 to 38, inclusive, and has a notch in its inner arcuate edge for each pull-bar and when any pull-bar falls into its respective alignment of notches, it will also fall into its corresponding notch 43 in bar I6.

Power for operating the selecting mechanism is supplied by a motor and a control circuit therefor shown and described in the S. Morton et al. Patent No. 1,904,164. To operate a teletypewriter arranged for printing suppression, the local attendant attaches lugs 25 as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 by fastening each lug by means of setscrew 44, to arrange one or more sections of a line of typing for suppression of printing, the intervening sections being arranged to print the desired information on that line. Then again, printing may be suppressed for the full length of the line. In other cases it-may be desired to suppress printing along the latter part only of the line, termination "of suppression being effected by the carriage return signal followed by the line feed signal. In order to prepare the teletypewriter for the different conditions, under which it is desired to operate, it is necessary to arrange the function levers so that those respectively responsive to the activating and deactivating function signals under each condition may be properly positioned to control the raising For the first condition, printing suppression is normally activated as shown in Fig. 2 and in order to deactivate at a point along a line of typing a certain function (upper case character) signal is transmitted. In response to the certain function signal a corresponding function lever operates and its front extension arm, say in this case, arm 32, consequently bears downwardly on the left-hand tang 45 of leg 31 to cause the left-hand end of latching member I!) to'rotate in a counter-clockwise direction about its pivot and come to rest on top of tang 30 of leg. 3|.

The left-hand end of latching member I9 'up'on coming to rest on top of tang 31!, holds camming 'bar I8 in its deactivated, or lower, position, as shown in Fig. 3, for the duration of the deactivated period in the line of typing. The transmission of another function signal during the period of deactivation or within the line of typing or the carriage return signal at the end of a line of typing, operates its corresponding function lever causing its front extension arm, in this case, arm 33, to bear downwardly on the righthand end of latching member I9 to cause the left-hand end of latching member I9 to rotate in a clockwise direction about its pivot whereby the camming bar I8 is free under the influence of spiral springs 26 to return to its activated, or upper, position and the .teletypewriter is restored to its printing suppression activating condition for the next line as soon as the carriage return and line feed signals are transmitted.

Second condition extension arm, say in this case, arm 33, consequently bears downwardly on the right-hand end of latching member I9 which therefore rotates in a clockwise direction about its pivot to thereby release tang 30 of leg 3|. Camming bar I8 upon the release of tang 30, moves upwardly under'the influence of spiral springs 26 to its printing suppression activated position as shown in Fig. 2. The teletypewriter may remain in its printing suppression activated position until another function signal is transmitted at some point before the end of the line of typing or the carriage return signal is transmitted at the end of the line. In response to the other function signal or the carriage return signal, the corresponding function lever operates and therefore moves its front extension arm, in this case, arm 32, downwardly to bear on left-hand tang 45 of leg 3!. Tang 45, upon moving downwardly, is latched in its lower position by the left-hand end of latching member I9 coming to rest on top of tang 30 and thus camming bar I 8 is restored to its printing suppression deactivated position as shown in Fig. 3. After the carriage return and line feed signals are transmitted, the teletypewriter is prepared for printing suppression deactivation for the next line. tions of the function levers in the second condition are reversed to the position of the function levers in the first condition.

Third condition For the third condition, printing suppression is activated and deactivated for each section of a line of typing, as desired, by transmitting two different specified function (upper case character) signals, within the line of typing, one signal serving to activate and the other, deactivate. In fact, two or more sections of the one line of typing may be arranged for printing suppression activation. Should the teletypewriter be normally deactivated as shown in Fig.3, and at a certain point along the line of typing it be desired to activate printing suppression, transmission of a specified function (upper case character) signal momentarily operates the corresponding function lever and the front ex- It will be noted that the .positension arm, say in this case, arm 33, "of such function lever, moves downwardlyto release tang 30 of leg 3| from under the left-hand end of latching member I9. leased, permits camming bar I8 to move upwardly under the influence of spiral springs 26 to its printing suppression activating position "as shown in Fig. 2. As the type-basket carriage is stepped along the line of typing in response to the message character signals the bell-crank I'I upon riding up on top of cam lugs 25, is operated to move code bar It into its alternate position whereby complete operation of the pull-bars is V prevented and the printing is thereby suppressed. At the end of the period of a printing suppression a second specified function (upper case character) signal is transmitted. The second function signal causes its corresponding function lever to momentarily operate and the front extension arm, say in this case, arm 32, of such function lever bears downwardly Onthe left-hand tang -45 of leg 3I to restore camming bar! to its printing suppression deactivatedjposition as' shown in Fig. 3. Camming bar it is locked in the position shown in Fig. 3 by the left-hand endof latching member i9 coming to rest on the top of tang 30. (Jamming bar it? remains in its deactivated, or lower, position until the specified activating function signal is transmitted to again activate theteletypewriter for printing suppression.

Auxiliary condition Another condition ancillary to the three main conditions, is that shown in Fig. 2A wherein the selecting bars including notched bar is are locked in an operated position by one of the pullbars at the time roller 23 rides upon camming lugs 25. It is for this reason, that the upper end of bell crank i1 is equipped with a yielding extension 22. This provision is made in order to permit the operation of bell-crank I? at the time when a pull-bar is in its fully operated position as shown by pull-bar 39 in Fig. 4. In the event that a pull-bar is still in its fully operated position, bell-crank II can still be operated although code bar I6 is locked in its normal position by the fully operated pull-bar. As soon as the operated pull-bar is automatically withdrawn from the alignment of notches the yielding extension 22 under the influence of spiral spring 2!, moves into alignment with the upper leg of bell-crank I1 and, therefore, notched'bar I6 which is now free to move, operates to its alternate position as shown in Fig. 2.

What is claimed is:

i. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a plurality of individually selectable type bars, blocking means having effective and ineffective conditions and adapted in the effective condition to block all said type bars, a type spacing carriage, :andcontrolling means for said blocking means adapted to change said blocking means from ineffective to effective conditions and vice versa in accordance with advancement of said carriage to successive type spacing positions.

2. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a stationary paper carrier, a type carriage movable to form character spaces, permutation code responsive mechanisms mounted on said carriage including longitudinally adjustable code bars and individually selectable type bars, an extra adjustable code bar included in said mechanism having effective and ineffective conditions and adapted in the effective condition to block all said type bars, and controllingmeans for said extra code Tang 30, upon being re-' intelligence to be recorded, means responsive to a certain one or the teletypewriter charactersignals'for preventing all said type-bars from becoming effectively operated to record received intelligence, yieldable means included'in said preventing means for delaying the preventing means in performing its function when one of said pullbars remains effectively operated, and other means responsive to another of the teletypewriter character signals for releasing said preventing means to condition the teletypewriter for recording received intelligence.

4. A page-type teletypewriter comprising a type-basket carriage having pull-bars and type bars, a printing bail for operating said pull-bars, a plurality of code bars for selecting the particular pull-bar to be operated at a given time, an extra code bar having a normal position, and an alternate position for preventing the efiective operation of all said pull-bars, means for suppressing printing without affecting normal character spacing in one or more sections along a line of typing in response to teletypewriter signals, control means for said suppressing means arranged to prepare the teletypewriter for three conditions, namely, (1) wherein printing suppression is normally activated, means are provided to deactivate printing suppression for one line only in response to a certain teletypewriter character signal and other means are provided to automatically activate printing suppression in response to the carriage return signals; (2) wherein printing suppression is normally deactivated, means are provided to activate printing suppression for one line only in response to a certain teletypewriter character signal and other means are provided to automatically deactivate in response to the carriage,

return signal; and (3) wherein printing suppression is activated and deactivated in a line of typing without resorting to the transmission of the carriage return signal to effect automatic restoration, difierent means are provided to respectively activate and deactivate printing suppression,

each operation being effective in response to a difierent specified teletypewriter signal.

5. A page-type teletypewriter comprising a type-basket carriage having pull-bars and typebars, a printing bail for operating said pull-bars to thereby operate said type-bars, a plurality of code bars for selecting the particular pull-bar to thereby operate a particular type-bar at a given time, an extra code bar having a normal position, and an alternate position for preventing the effective operation of all said pull-bars without affecting normal spacing, an operable camming bar selectively presentable in either of two positions and means detachablymounted along said camming bar and efiective upon selective presentation of said camming bar in one of its two positions to shift said extra code bar to its alternate position to suppress typing of one or more sections of a line Without affecting normal spacing.

6. A page printing teletypewriter comprising a type-basket carriage having pull-bars and typebars operable by said pull-bars, a plurality of code bars for selecting said pull-bars individually for operation, a blocking bar having a normal or unblocking position, and an alternate position for blocking said pull-bars ag-ainst selection, a camming bar having camming lugs detachablymounted thereon, and means operable by said lugs to shift said blocking bar to its alternate position to suppress typing of one or more sections of a line by said carriage without ailecting I normal spacing thereof.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said camming bar is selectively presentable in either conditionable, means for automatically suppressing printing during one or more intervals in a line of typing in response to regular telegraph information character signals, and means for automatically restoring said conditionable means to normal after each of said intervals whereby printing is resumed atthe end of each interval.

9. In a teletypewriter system having typebars operable for causing received intelligence to be recorded, means responsive to certain teletypewriter signals for preventing all said typebars from becoming effectively "operated whereby received intelligence is not recorded in a line of typing, and other means automatically operated at the end of a predetermined interval in said line of typing for releasing the first-mentioned means to resume recording of the received intelligence.

10. In a page-type teletypewriter having a type-basket, type-bars mounted on said basket and operable for causing received intelligence to be recorded, means responsive to certain teletypewriter signals for conditioning all said typebars to be prevented from becoming efiectively operated whereby received intelligence is not recorded in a line of typing, other means automatically efiective for preventing all said typebars, when conditioned, from being efiectively operated in response to signals representing received intelligence during one or more intervals in a line of typing, said other means being also automatically effective to resume printing in response to the received intelligence between the intervals in the line of typing, and still other means responsive to an end-of-line signal for releasing said conditioning means and for preparing said type-basket to record received intelligence on the next line of typing.

11. In a teletypewriter having selectively operable pull-bars and type-bars operably controlled thereby for causing received intelligence to be recorded, means for precluding effective operation of any of said type-bars by blocking their associated pull-bars against selection whereby the recording of received intelligence is prevented, means conditionable in response to certain teletypewriter character signals, other means arranged to enable said blocking means under the control of said conditionable means, a yieldable instrumentality included in said other means for permitting said other means to operate when said blocking means is locked against operation by a previously selected one of said pull-bars still in its operated position, and a resilient means included in said yieldable instrumentality for permitting said blocking means to become operated immediately upon the release of said operated one of said pull-bars.

12. In a teletypewriter having pull-bars and type-bars operably controlled thereby for causing received intelligence to be recorded, means operable in response to certain teletypewriter character signals for conditioning all said typebars to be prevented from being effectively operated whereby received intelligence is not recorded in a line of typing, .permissively operable means controllable by said conditionable means for automatically preventing .said type-bars from being efiectively operated during one or more intervals of equal and/or unequal durations in a line of typing in response to received intelligence, and yieldable means interposed between said conditionable means and said permissively operable means and arranged to be locked by a pull-bar associated with any one of said type-bars in its effectivelyoperated position for delaying the operation of said permissively 0perable means until the locking one of said pullbars is restored to its normal position.

13. In a teletypewriter having pull-bars and type-bars, certain of said pull-bars having means arranged to operate said type-bars, respectively, to record received intelligence, code-bars hav ing notches arranged to permit each 'of said pull-bars to effectively operate in response to its respective signal of the received intelligence, operable means responsive to certain teletypewriter character signals of the received intelligence,

means adjustably mounted on said operable means for determining'one or more intervals of equal and/or unequal durations wherein recording of received intelligence. is suppressed in a line of typing, an operable member, an element arranged to be operated alternately to its oilnormal and normal positions by said operable member automatically under the control of said adjustably mounted means in response to the signals of the received intelligence, said element having means for preventing when said element is in its off-normal position the effective operation of those of said pull-bars which respectively have associated therewith said type-bars, and yieldable means on said operable member for permitting said operable member to operate when said element is locked in its normal position by any one of said certain pull-bars being in engagement with said means on said element, said yieldable means having resilient means for permitting said element to operate to its 01T- normal position immediately upon the disengagement of said one pull-bar with said means on said element.

SIDNEY WARREN BEYLAND.

Name Date Lang et al Feb. 1, 1938 Number 

